Water Fasting – Healing Journey Day 4

Journal:
My stomach officially hurts. I did sleep better last night, waking up at 6:00 instead of 4:00 for which I’m grateful for. But I can’t deny that I feel my stomach so much today. Today marks 4 days without food, and only 2 days of drinking water. I have not had any issues drinking water right away this morning so my adjustment period was definitely yesterday.

**TMI Warning: I think my stomach pain may also be related to the need to use the washroom but the inability to do so for the past two days. I’m assuming that because my digestion has been shut down – essentially – for the past 4 days that it is causing the lack of movement. However, later in the day (towards the end of the day), I was finally able to have some elimination with the assistance of proper washroom posture. In case you are not aware, proper posture involves propping your feet on a stool or bench that allows your body to enter a 35 degree angle. Here is a great video to watch by a company that creates a stool specifically for this purpose:

https://youtu.be/pYcv6odWfTM

Some people have complained about headaches when doing any kind of fasting. Thankfully, I’m not a person who regularly gets headaches  and so I have not experienced any kind of headache.

I also think I have figured out what is going on with the temperature reactions in my body. My stomach is ON FIRE!! I can only assume this is from my body metabolizing my fat stores for food/energy. But the burning in my stomach is causing my limbs to become cold much more quickly. And when I turn the heat on, it amplifies the heat coming from my stomach making me way too warm. I’m not going to say the experience is miserable, but it’s definitely not my favourite. Either way, I managed to go to work this morning and somehow make it through the day.

How am I feeling about food right now? Oh my goodness… would I love to have anything; bread, vegan pizza (though not craving cheese of any kind), vegan croissants, baguettes, etc. Oddly enough, it’s mostly bread products but I’m almost thinking more than the taste, it is the texture of sinking my teeth into something soft and cushy. Texture often plays a big part in our food desires, and the thought of something so nice and cushy that almost melts in your mouth sounds absolutely amazing. But in reality, almost anything vegan would do. I’m starting to think about food more often, though it’s still fairly easy to bypass food, especially when the students are eating and microwaving their food, and the stash that is ever beside me on the floor. My NewsFeed on Facebook is also still full of people making different delicious vegan foods that look so appetizing, and yet somehow I’m still going strong. That being said, I am so looking forward to having lemon in my water tomorrow and especially to starting my juice feast on Thursday. I am currently just counting down the days to having some type of calories in my body. The time is actually going by fairly quickly though I look forward to feeling stronger again.

I did not go to the gym tonight. I didn’t make this decision based on energy stores, but simply because I don’t want to kill myself when I’m only in the middle of the work week. Work has been particularly stressful and unfortunately, the lack of calories in my body has caused my brain not to function at 100% capacity causing things to wear me out more than normal. Instead of being on my feet all day, I take more opportunities to sit down and I choose my walking trips a little more carefully. I also noticed that while I’m walking, I also feel almost like my legs are a little more jelly-like than normal. This is something I more than look forward to going away.

I drank approximately 3L today which is an improvement from yesterday’s 1.25-1.5L.

Review of Symptoms:
Face has no changes. Not really any new acne, but still a lot of room for improvement. Stomach pain is more prevalent. Body feels weak though somehow continues to do everything I need it to do. Mentality is not as strong as it could be, though it does seem to be stronger when I’m not physically active and draining my body that way. Stomach almost felt a little bloated today which is an interesting thing to consider. Thoughts are going towards food more often and counting down the days to lemon water tomorrow and my juice feast starting Thursday. Still experiencing temperature extremes though for the most part, I have been very warm in my midsection (stomach on fire) and very cold in my limbs. Very minimal shaking in the morning today though very weak. I also experienced some – at least what feels like – heartburn or acid reflux in the later part of the evening. I am not sure why this is occurring, but this is also not a pleasant experience.

Weight at the end of the day = 182.6 lbs (down 2.8 lbs in 24 hours, down 6.2 lbs in 72 hours).

Total Calories = 0

Organic vs. Non-Organic

Take a good look at those cucumbers. Do you see a difference?

I wish my camera was a little better. If it was, you would see that the top one is smoother and much more dull than the bottom one. The bottom one has many more ridges and is less “perfect”. Can you guess which one is the organic one?

If you guessed the bottom one, you are correct.

I love cucumbers. More specifically, I love cucumber sandwiches (it’s my thing lately). Of course my motto is to always buy organic when you can, but at $5 per cucumber, it becomes very expensive.

The top cucumber came in a bunch of 3 that I got at Costco. Normally, their produce is pretty good. However, I do wish they would bring in more organic items. Regardless, I figured this pack of 3 English cucumbers would hold me over until my next organic order. Let’s just say, I have 2 1/2 of those cucumbers still in my fridge weeks later.

Why you may ask? Because they are way too wrong.

Wrong in the sense that the texture is different. Wrong in the sense that the flavour is off. Wrong in the sense that I can tell this is nowhere near a good, organic cucumber.

It makes you wonder… if there is this much difference in an organic and a non-organic cucumber, then what is really going on with our food?

I may dive into this issue a little later, but I can tell you friends, it’s not good. Scientists need to stop playing with our food and we need to buy as much organic as possible.

From now on, the only cucumbers I will be consuming are the expensive, but much healthier and natural option in the bottom of that picture.

Day 4

We slept for as long as we wanted; it was so nice! I love the weekends where we don’t have to wake up according to an alarm clock. They’re so nice!

This morning was bad. My husband hadn’t put away the stuff from pizza last night, and I had a sip of Coke Zero, and the rest of the cinnamon sticks. I felt awful, the sugar in my throat (or cinnamon, or both) was actually choking me (hence the drink of Coke Zero), and it was just a mess. I wished I hadn’t done it as soon as I had done it.

For a pre-workout snack, I had a vegetarian wrap and a fresh juice made from beets, carrots and apples. If you’ve never juiced beets before, you need to. I love the flavour and texture it gives the juice. Yum! However, it is recommended that you don’t drink liquids and eat food together. I think I felt this a bit. I felt extremely full and slightly uncomfortable.

My workout went well. I did some squats, lunges, push-ups, lateral raises, and of course my chiropractor exercises.

For a late lunch, I ate 4 mangos. I really don’t know why I was feeling so full today, but that junk food really didn’t help. My body was “off”!

I had to rush to leave for a presentation that my students were doing for a crowd of 1800 people! They sang in the choir and gave an awesome concert. What I didn’t expect was the concert to take an hour, (we were there already an hour early to practice), the sermon to take about an hour and a bit, and the baptisms to be quite so many, but praise God! It was all amazing! I love seeing people give their hearts to God, and to praise with all of their hearts for God. A spectacular night, all 4 1/2 hours of it! Can you imagine how much I was starving?

I had promised my husband a date night, and since I was in a rush to get home, I actually ended up taking two detours, one out of our own city! Needless to say I was later than I said I was going to be. I even called ahead and have him get ready and meet me outside. Somehow, we made it in time and even had a fairly empty theatre. But that of course meant my supper was some popcorn, candy, and some Fanta Orange Pop. Not a supper I recommend. But by the time we got home (1:00 a.m.), I was too tired, and still full so I got ready and went to bed.

Tomorrow needs to be a better day…